


Zero-Sum Game

by Karartegirl99



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:41:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22695718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karartegirl99/pseuds/Karartegirl99
Summary: Lord English wins the final battle, leaving only Dirk alive. Originally posted to my fanfiction.net account.
Relationships: Caliborn/Dirk Strider, Lord English/Dirk Strider
Comments: 3
Kudos: 24





	Zero-Sum Game

Dirk struggled, but it was no use. Leprechauns had him by either arm—the big leprechauns, not the little ones or the really stupid ones—and they dragged him across the bloodstained battlefield. “What the _fuck?_ ” he shouted. “Just kill me already, what are you doing?!” He felt his foot brush against something, but he didn’t dare look down to see whose corpse it was. He was too tired.

Lord English was still standing in the middle of the battlefield, and to Dirk’s horror the leprechauns were leading him in that direction. “Put me _down!_ ” He tried to do something, steal the leprechauns’ souls or something, but it felt like all the power had been gutted out of him. Helpless, he was shoved forward, and he found himself kneeling at Lord English’s feet.

“It’s been a while,” Lord English boomed. “For me, not for you. You haven’t changed. At all.”

“You killed Jake,” Dirk said.

“I killed everyone,” said Lord English. “And I can kill them again if I wanted. I could kill the very fabric of paradox space. Destroy universe. After universe. After universe. I could kill a thousand iterations of your friends and conquer a thousand galaxies. But do you know. What I love more than destroying things?”

Dirk gritted his teeth. “What?”

Lord English leaned down until their faces were inches apart, pausing for dramatic effect. “Messing with you,” he answered. Dirk hated to admit it, but as English bore into him with those seizure-inducing eyes, Dirk felt a very real tinge of fear.

Lord English laughed and grabbed Dirk by the shoulder. With his other hand, his huge, hulk-like hand, he stroked Dirk’s hair. The leprechauns had gone, and as Dirk glanced around, he realized just how utterly alone he was.

“I am willing. To make a deal,” Lord English told him. “A game, if you will. It goes like this. You do what I tell you. And I will not kill your friends again.”

Dirk’s eyes widened. “‘Again’? What do you mean, ‘again’?”

“ _Infinite universes,_ ” English shouted, shaking Dirk by his collar. “Infinite ghosts living infinite afterlives in countless dream bubbles. You wouldn’t want something to happen to those bubbles. Would you?”

“Fuck,” Dirk whispered.

“I did not think so,” said English. He let go of Dirk, who made no move to run.

He had lost SBURB, but the real game — the real game had just begun.


End file.
